| Contents |
Introduction / De-Valera N.Y.M. Botchway -- Section I: Recruitment, Battlefronts and African Responses : Chapter One. The Role of the Gold Coast Regiment towards the Defeat of the Germans in Africa during World War I / Colonel J. Hagan -- Chapter Two. Nigerian Soldiers in the East African Campaign of the First World War: 1916-1917 / Ibiang O. Ewa -- Chapter Three. World War I: The Role of the Gold Coast and Aante towards the British Victory / Kwame O. Kwarteng -- Chapter Four. Bewilderment, Speculations and Benefaction: Africans' Interpretation of World War One in the Literature of the Sudan United Mission British Branch / Jordan S. Rengshwat -- Section II: Wartime Colonial Economic Policies : Chapter Five. African Mobilization of Agricultural Resources in British West Africa during the First World War / Adebayo A. Lawal -- Chapter Six. Impact of the First World War on Labour Recruitment in the North of the Gold Coast (Ghana) / Marciana M. Kuusaana -- Chapter Seven. The Impact of the First World War on Africa's Transportation Systems: The Nigerian Railways as a Case Study / Tokunbo A. Ayoola -- Section III: Wartime, Society and Mobility : Chapter Eight: Detention and Deportation: A Study of the "De-Germanization" of Togoland and the Gold Coast during World War I, 1914-1918 / Augustine D. Osei -- Chapter Nine. Chieftaincy and Indirect Rule: The Nature, Politics, and Exploits of Chiefs during the First World War in West Africa (1914-1930) / Samuel Bewiadzi and Mararet Ismaila -- Chapter Ten. The Influenza Pandemic in the Gold Coast and Asante, 1918-1919 / Kwame O. Kwarteng and Stephen Osei-Owusu -- Section IV: Memory, Remembrance and Representations : Chapter Eleven. Italy's "Parallel War" in Libya: A Forgotten Front of World War I (1914-1922) / Stefano Marcuzzi -- Chapter Twelve. Historical Connections: Appreciating the Impact of the African Past on its Present and Future through the "3 Cs" of the First World War / Adjei Adjepong -- Chapter Thirteen. Cinema, World War I and the New Nations of Africa: The Case of Ghana / Vitus Nanbigne. |
| Abstract |
The First World War was a widespread conflagration in world history, which, despite its European origins, had enormous effects throughout the world. Fettered to European politics and diplomacy through colonialism, Africa could not claim a position of neutrality, meaning that it mobilised human and natural resources to support the imperial war effort. Fighting both within and outside Africa, colonised Africans who were compelled or coaxed by the colonial regimes of the warring European countries fought Europeans and Africans too. The soldiers fought with great dedication and contributed significantly to successes attained by the belligerent European colonialists. Similarly, African non-combatants, like carriers, brought zeal and enthusiasm to difficult wartime tasks. The impact of the war on Africa was immense with far-reaching consequences in specific colonies, and touched the lives of all Africans under colonial rule. Although the continent's connections to the war were immense and diverse, these experiences are not widely known among scholars and the general public. This is because, over the years, most studies and commemorative events of the war have centred on the European theatre of the war and its outcomes. This book brings together interesting essays written by scholars of African history, society, and military about African experiences of the war. It complements and problematises some key themes on Africa and the First World War, and offers a stimulating historiographical excursion, providing possibilities for reconsidering normative conclusions on the war. The volume will be on interest to general readers, as well as students and researchers in different areas of scholarship, including African history, war studies, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, labour history, and the history of memory, among others--back cover. |
